XCOR Chases New Records

XCOR Aerospace, flexing new
financial muscle, intends to write its name -- or at least that of
its test pilot Dick Rutan -- in the record books.

The plan is for Rutan to fly the plane from Mojave to California
City -- about 11 miles -- on December 3. Then for either Rutan or
Rick Searfoss to fly it back a week later. At present, there are no
records for rocket powered, take-off-from-ground airplanes.

The twin-rocket-powered experimental aircraft will be attempting
to set world records in Class C1b Group IV of the Federation
Aeronautique Internationale. The FAI's United States
representative, the National Aeronautic Association, will monitor
the flights. But it will be more than just a record attempt. The
XCOR team will try to do something no rocket has ever done: deliver
US Mail!

The flight from Mojave to California City will carry the
mail.

The airplane will climb at Vne -- 195 knots or Mach 0.4 -- for
about a minute, to about 10,000 to 11,000 feet MSL. The two 400-lb
thrust engines of the EZ-Rocket can be stopped and started in
flight, individually or together; some fuel may be retained for a
possible go-around on landing.

Only three men have flown the EZ-Rocket: Dick Rutan, a retired
Air Force fighter pilot and brother of Burt Rutan; Mike Melvill,
SpaceShipOne astronaut who also flew chase for the initial
EZ-Rocket program; and Rick Searfoss, three time Shuttle astronaut
and Rocket Racing League chief pilot.

For a rocketplane, the machine is well-proven technology. It has
flown about twenty times. Apart from many test flights, mostly at
Mojave, the EZ-Rocket has been demonstrated in public twice: at
Airventure 2002 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and at Las Cruces, New
Mexico, during the Countdown to the X-Prize Cup in early
October.

After the record flights, the EZ-Rocket will be retired. XCOR
has moved on to greater things, building the firewall-aft of the
Mark I Rocket Racers for the Rocket Racing League, developing an
advanced pump for DARPA, and working on several other commercial
space projects.